Arizona: The Gun Lobby shoots down gun buybacks

Cities and counties in Arizona that put on gun buyback events will be required to resell rather than destroy firearms taken in, according to a new law passed by the Republican-run Arizona Legislature and signed into law on Monday by Gov. Jan Brewer.

“This measure would ensure that taxpayer resources are not utilized to pursue a political agenda and destroying firearms,” said a statement from the National Rifle Association, which lobbied for the legislation. Guns turned in at buybacks would have to be sold to licensed gun dealers.

The Gun Lobby has continued to dominate the Grand Canyon State, despite the 2011 massacre in a Tucson shopping mall that saw six people (including a federal judge) killed, and another 13 including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wounded. Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, have become national spokespeople for gun safety laws.

A few weeks after the Tucson massacre, however, Arizona lawmakers designated an official state gun, the Colt Single Action Army Revolver, known as the “Peacemaker.” They debated, but did not pass, legislation allowing concealed weapons on college campuses. Tucson assassin Jared Lee Loughner had been asked to leave Pima Community College.

There have been some signs of changing attitudes.

Newly elected U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, initially indicated to a constituent he would vote in favor of legislation requiring criminal background checks for gun purchasers, but then voted to kill the Manchin-Toomey amendment. A subsequent survey by Public Policy Polling showed Flake with an approval rating of only 32 percent, with 51 percent giving thumbs down to their freshman senator’s performance.

Flake sniffed about the polling firm’s “leftist bent” — although it accurately forecast his election last fall — but then acknowledged that his approval rating has taken a “southerly turn.”

The legislation on gun buybacks was opposed by Democrats, and by municipal officials who argued that it was an interference with local government.